The Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) Intelligence ( DGGI ) has uncovered a significant tax fraud operation involving the creation of fake firms in Pune, Maharashtra. Estimated to be worth between Rs. 5,000 crore and Rs. 8,000 crore, the fraud scheme was reportedly orchestrated in the name of an unsuspecting autorickshaw driver.
Pune Zonal Unit officer of DGGI, Rushi Prakash, lodged an FIR at Koregaon Park police station on Friday, detailing the scope of the case. The investigation identified the primary suspect as Ashrafbhai Ibrahimbhai Kalavadiya, a 50-year-old from Surat, Gujarat, who allegedly established 246 fake GST-registered companies to execute the fraud.
The police have also implicated additional individuals under relevant sections of the Criminal Laws and the Information Technology Act.
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The probe commenced in October 2023, when DGGI officials flagged suspicious transactions linked to a digital account under “Pathan Enterprises.” Upon further examination, the team found that the firm was registered in the name of Pathan Shabbir Khan Anwar Khan, an autorickshaw driver with no knowledge of the business registered under his identity.
Investigators uncovered that several of the fake companies were operating with a single shared mobile number and email address, indicating an organised scheme.
The scheme also allegedly involved an ICICI Bank account in Rajkot, Gujarat, held in the name of Jeet Kukadiya, a security guard who admitted that he opened the account at the request of associates Kaushik Makwana and Jitendra Gohel but was unaware of its use in fraudulent transactions.
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Kalavadiya was taken into custody and presented before the Shivajinagar court in Pune, which remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody. Meanwhile, DGGI officials have conducted extensive searches across Pune, Mumbai, Rajkot, and Bhavnagar, with the investigation ongoing as authorities work to uncover the full extent of the operation.
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